Forms Platform

As part of 10x, the federal government’s venture studio, I worked with product managers, engineers, and stakeholders at the Office of Pardon Attorney (U.S. DOJ) to create a no-code form-builder.

As design lead, I led product design of the application using U.S.W.D.S. and designing in compliance with federal laws.

This project is currently paused due to a shift in priorities within the General Services Administration.

  • Project Type: UX/UI Design and Research

  • Role: UX Researcher and Design Strategist

  • Organization: 10x with U.S. Department of Justice

  • Timeline: 7 months (2025)

  • Team Size: 7 members

Background

As of 2024, the 21C IDEA mandates that public-facing government forms be built as web applications. However, most agencies don’t have resources to build compliant digital versions of all of their forms. There are also few choices in the market that are compliant for use with Federal data.

The Forms Platform helps agencies deliver a great digital experience that works for all users on all devices.

Deliverables & Impact

Design audit to improve usability

The platform is built using components from U.S. Web Design System, which are responsive and meet strict security and accessibility standards. Form components include short answer, long answer, multiple choice, checkbox, and rich text.

Before designing any new components, I led a component audit of the existing design system, identifying areas for improvement. As a result, I improved the UI of 17 components for two views – for the form-builder and form-filler. Additionally, I detailed validation error messages to guide form-fillers, and redesigned the ‘Add element‘ menu to lift usability.

New components for the MVP

I also designed new features to meet MVP requirements. This involved:

  • Conducting a UX teardown of similar platforms in the industry (e.g. Suffolk County Forms, GC Forms) and form builders (e.g. Google Forms, Typeform)

  • Observing best practice guidelines from government design systems (e.g. U.S. Web Design System, VA.gov Design System, GOV.UK, GC Forms)

  • User testing new concepts with stakeholders and users

The aim is to contribute new components back to U.S.W.D.S. for use in other accessible, mobile-friendly government websites.

Form-builder view: Adding supplementary information to a question

Form-filler view: Revealing supplementary information in the accordion

Form-builder view: Editing a set of related questions

Form-filler view: Answering a set of related questions

Form-filler view (desktop): Adding 1+ response to this question

Form-filler view (mobile): Adding 1+ response to this question

Challenge

Meeting user needs and MVP timelines

A classic design challenge is delivering a desirable and technically feasible solution within a given deadline. An example is the logic work.

To meet requirements, I mocked up ways for form builders to show or hide specific pages or questions based on a response. This involves:

  • Branching logic, which skips one or more pages based on a set of answers. This is helpful for eligibility screeners.

  • Skip logic, which hides questions based on an answer. This is helpful for skipping questions that are not relevant.

Considering the technical complexity of logic, however, we had to scope down the designs to deliver on time for the MVP - all without compromising the overall user experience.

After rounds of iterations, user testing, and discussions, we were able to align on a scope of work that enabled the engineers to meet both user needs and deadlines.